Three Times a Charm
by FlyAndDontLookBack
Summary: Requested by FF user PrawnNetwork. AU where detective Kuramori Shirou also becomes a victim of parasites but ends up in a similar situation as Izumi Shinichi and Uda Mamoru. Things take a downturn for the worst when Kuramori's first instinct is to choke himself. tragedy. charadeath. one-shot.


**After the success of my last parasyte story, _Migi's Last Words,_ I got an offer for a writing prompt request. I couldn't say no, not when I was given such a challenge and I wanted to write Parasyte one more time, so here I am!**

 **I'd like to thank _PrawnNetwork_ for giving me this opportunity and I'll apologize in advance if this isn't really the story you were looking for. I got the idea when I started rewatching the anime, so it might be different from what you might have wanted.**

 **So, without further ado, here is the story!**

* * *

 _ **\- AU set after Shinichi and Mamoru kidnap him**_

 _ **\- Slight OOC**_

 _ **\- Overall angst and trigger warning**_

* * *

"This world is not what you think it is."

His eyebrow raises in skepticism, but fear clouds it. "Oh?"

"You remember what you saw, didn't you? You even had a camera that recorded everything."

He nods, the event still fresh in his mind and his arm still stinging. "Yes, I do."

"Do you still have the evidence?"

He gives out a humorless laugh. "Like I would delete something like that. I have concrete evidence that you're a monster."

The student he's talking to gives him a blank look instead of an insulted one. "A monster? Maybe. But not quite."

He raises his eyebrow once more to the student. "What do you mean?"

The student give him a pitiful look. It somehow makes him mad. "Parasites. This world is filled with parasites."

A silence ensures as the two look at each other intensely, one waiting for a reaction and the other stunned into reticence.

"Parasites?" He whispers and the student nods. A man standing next to the student with a deformed chin lets out a few tears.

"That thing you saw that day? It was a parasite. It burrowed into my hand by accident instead of taking over my head. We coexist together now, and we do what we can to survive. I call him Migi."

He could have asked a million questions regarding this, but the simplest and the most idiotic one comes out first. "Migi? Did you just call that parasite thing ' _right_ ' for right hand?"

The student merely nods, uncaring that the question seems so bland. "Yeah. Parasites don't seem to make up good names."

And after that, the student relives the experiences he's had with the parasite to him, eyes still blank and gaze unwavering.

He has no choice but to listen, for he knows for a fact that the two people who kidnapped him had parasites with them and that they could kill him in any second. He wouldn't have minded being killed, since he had witnessed such a horrible sight and was confirmed of one of his worst nightmares, but he had a loving wife and daughter waiting for him, so he cannot move until the ordeal is over.

He listens to the student talk, explain, try to make him understand, and to some extent, he does. But the doubt never leaves his eyes.

The world should still be the same. It should still be normal.

But even he isn't delusional enough to know that the last thought is a complete and utter lie.

* * *

"I see. I can understand where you're coming from now." He says as calmly as he can once the student finishes talking. "What do you want me to do then? This much information can't be given without an objective. What is it that you want me to do?"

"I'd like you to keep quiet about us." The student answers and he looks at him incredulously.

"Keep quiet about this? Why? I would have thought that you would jump to the idea to coming clean if it were to help the humans win against the monsters. You should sacrifice yourself for the good of the humanity, don't you think?"

The student can't look at him in the eye. At the same time the two parasites decide to finally act and morph with their blades. The student yells at them to stop and in the last second, they do.

The parasite, the one called Migi, stretches closer to him with his eye and gives him his version of a stink eye, as if the parasite is disappointed in him.

"Self sacrifice my ass." The parasite says, and he has difficulty figuring out where the mouth is in the stretched out skin. The other parasite seems to be scrutinizing him intensely. "If you have the right to live, so do we. We will do whatever we can to survive." The parasite has a point but at the moment, he cannot think. The blades are too close for comfort and he is trembling too much to understand completely. He wants the blades to leave, he wants the student and his accomplice to leave, and he wants to leave himself and be with his family again.

"You understand that I cannot let Shinichi come forward and become a lab rat, to 'sacrifice himself', as you say it. If you still have lingering thoughts about this, remember that I am prepared to kill you anytime without any remorse whatsoever."

The blades come closer and at this point, he is wondering if he will ever see his family again. The trembles feel as if he is in an earthquake now and all he wants to do is forget this ever happened.

 _'I'll delete the evidence. I'll pretend I never saw or heard of anything of this. I'll stay out of your hair and make sure we never see each other again.'_ He wants to yell but his throat his surrounded by the parasite's hardened skin that even one small movement might get him killed.

"Take a good look at him." The parasite continues and he is forced to look at the student in front of him. "He is still only a high schooler in his teens. He's still qualified as child to your perspective, isn't he?"

Not one movement or he knows he dies.

"But his mother's been killed. He was the one who had to kill her. He's had to step over a pile of corpses that once belonged to his classmates and friends. He's had to endure so much more than what a normal person can handle, and yet he is still trying to survive his hardest. Where is your pity?"

Something flickers in his eyes as he imagines his own daughter in the place of the student. At that, he feels like he's almost about to faint.

"Could you have endured what Shinichi has?" The parasite asks and unconsciously, his head shakes side to side, confirming that he is nothing but a coward who still cannot grasp the situation at hand.

The two parasites go back to their original positions, the hand and jaw, but he still cannot breath right. They are still examining him and all he wants to do now is sleep and never wake up. The parasite warns him that the person he is seeing at the moment is not human but a parasite like him. The two parasite-infected humans then part ways, saying goodbye and apologizing to him as well, and soon enough, he is left alone to think and wonder.

What has he been dragged into?

* * *

He takes a detour from home, wanting so much to just be alone and sort his thoughts out. At the moment he cannot, for a second, think about his family. Right now, there are more important issues to deal with, though he doesn't want to admit it.

He trudges up the stairs to where his office is and realizes unsurprisingly how quiet it is. He had looked at his watch a few minutes back; he knew nobody would be here when it was almost twilight.

He closes the door to his small working room and takes a seat at his desk, closing his eyes and letting sweat drop down to his neck. Perspiration mars his whole face and he does a number to wipe it off only to have more come out. He soon gives up and covers his mouth with his hands, his elbows touching the desk and his face descending. A bitter sigh escapes his lips and decides that he doesn't need this kind of bullshit. He was a detective, not a passerby who got unlucky. He didn't deserve any of this. Yet here he was.

'I just need to calm my head.' He thinks tiredly and moves his hands to cover his ears instead. 'I just need to organize my thoughts for a second. I need to concentrate and relax.'

And then he sneezes at the sudden itchiness in his nose.

His eyes widen at a sudden deja vu. Where did something like this happen? He tries to think but stops immediately when he sets his eyes on a glowing worm that was spread out on the desk. He bites back a shriek as he stands in surprise and the chair falls to the ground. The worm-like creature twitches for half a second before lunging.

In those fractions of a second, he remembers why he felt deja vu.

'The kid. He had this before. It's how he got a parasite in his hand.' And then the realization sets on him a fraction too late. The vermin lunges and before he has time to cover up any exposed skin, which were, to his dismay, a lot, it buries itself inside his neck.

Four reactions happen in a flash.

The first is panic. Who wouldn't in this situation? He was sure the kid himself had a panic attack when it happened to him as well.

The next is realization. The parasite was going for the brain, to inhabit and control it. To erase him and his existence. If the parasite was going to take his life away, it would most likely live with this face and fool everyone around him, even his own family. His precious, precious family. His daughter, the angel she was, and his wife, a goddess to him.

The following is, as he liked to put it, impulsive insanity. His hands unconsciously move towards the tip of his neck and, before he knows what action he is displaying, he squeezes his fingers as hard as he can.

The final reaction he has is none other than terror. It is then that he realizes what he is doing to himself. But he can't stop, not when he knows that the parasite is still trying to move upward. He feels his lungs burning and his eyes are rolling backward but he keeps squeezing hard. A bit more and he gambles that the parasite will stop moving and perhaps, if he is lucky, jump out of his body to find a better one.

A door opens, a movement he doesn't see or hear, and footsteps signifying a person entering.

"Kuramori-san, I didn't know you were still here - Oh my god! What the fuck do you think you're doing?" A voice cries out and he turns around stiffly to see a blurry image of one of his colleagues.

"Let go of your neck this instant!" The colleague keeps screaming but he shakes his head as vigorously as he can. The parasite is still in there. He can _feel_ it.

"Kuramori-san, why are you doing this? Think of your family!" The associate begs and he desperately wants to tell him that he is. He _is_ thinking of his family. He wants the vermin to get out of his system so that he doesn't have to deal with what the student has been through.

He's weak, he's a coward, but even he knows that only a madman would want what the student was going through.

He feels his vision going even more blurry and soon enough, his legs give out on him. His knees land on the ground but his hands are still at it.

"Kuramori-san!" The co-worker yells and before he faints, he distinctly hears the person asking if this is 911.

* * *

As he wakes, he is blessed to see a beautiful woman sleeping on a chair next to him. He pets her head weakly and the woman arouses immediately.

"Oh, thank god." His wife expresses as she caresses one of his hands worriedly. "You're ok."

He gives her a smile and touches her hair once more.

"I must have given you all a fright, haven't I?" He whispers and she nods furiously.

"When Yumi and I heard from Aikawa-san that you almost died choking yourself, we immediately rushed over here. What were you thinking, doing something like that?" She reprimands and though it was not her intention, she has brought back the horrible memories he had been harboring in his mind.

His hand that was still on her head drops and his eyes widen in fear. Instantly, his free hand goes up to his neck and he touches every inch of it. He feels nothing, nothing except for the burning sensation at the tip of his throat.

"Your neck is still red, but the doctors say it should fade in a few days. Honey, what was going through your mind?" She asks once more and he finds that it is difficult to look at her in the eye.

"I just - Did the doctor say anything else about my condition? Did he inspect my insides or something?" He tries to imply as casually as possible and his wife merely gives him a confused look.

"Why on earth would the doctors check your insides? They were too busy pumping oxygen into your system."

"I'm sorry I made you and Yumi worried."

"You should be." And she hugs him tightly. "We were so worried."

He pats her back soothingly. "I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

But he feels strange. It's as if a small part of his brain is warning him that what he just said is a complete lie. It tries to tell him that it will happen again.

He, like any sane person would do, ignores it.

* * *

Twilight. He is alone in the hospital, his family gone because visiting hours are over and nurses had warned them that they shouldn't tire him out so much.

The room is quiet except for his breathing and the occasional beeping of machines.

"Ah, so I failed. Sad, so sad."

His eyes open instantaneously. Where did that voice come from?

"Couldn't get head. Failed. Sad. Very sad."

He doesn't want to look. He really doesn't want to. But a detective's curiosity is insatiable.

Slowly, ever so slowly, his eyes flicker hesitantly downwards, hoping to just see his white gown and chest. He shouldn't even see his neck by looking down. It was natural.

He bites down on his inside cheeks involuntarily as he clearly sees a bulge stretching more and more as seconds tick by.

A second - an hour to his perspective - passes by before the parasite finally notices the host looking at it.

"Failed. Head. Couldn't get it." It says melancholically and he swallows a lump in his throat. His _infected_ throat.

"Wh-what are you?" He stutters and even he hears how weak he sounds. The lump with one eye and lips tilts sadly.

"Head. Wanted it. Sad."

"I'm asking what you are!" He unconsciously yells and a light outside turns on. He swears mentally and the lump knows enough to get back in position. The door opens and a nurse enters rapidly.

"What's wrong? I heard a yell." She states and he has to shake his head.

"I'm sorry. I thought I saw something." He excuses vaguely and the nurse looks at him worriedly.

"Should I pull down the curtains?"

He shakes his head. "No, it's completely fine. Sorry to have disturbed you so late in the night."

It is her turn to shake her head. "No, it's fine. It's what we're here for. Next time, though, I'd rather you pressed the button next to you to call us. You gave me quite a fright."

He looks at the button with the nurse logo on it. "Duly noted. Very sorry."

She nods before quietly stepping back outside and closing the door. He puts his head back down to the pillow and lets out a big sigh.

"Information. Want." The bulge returns and this time, he closes his eyes, trying to forget.

'This is not real. This can't be real. It is not real.' He keeps repeating but it is very hard to focus with the lump nudging him with his own skin.

"Want. Read. Know more." It speaks brokenly and when he opens his eyes, he finds himself looking directly at the parasite's eye.

Reality sets in and his hands grasp the stretched out skin. He grabs it and starts shaking it, as if he is choking it. The eye moves back and forth to the movement of the hands grasping its body, and sees that the host is crying.

"Get out of my body! Get out!" He whispers but he makes it seem like he's screaming. The parasite tilts its eye once more and an unknown anger fills his mind. Rage blinds him and he makes the same mistake he did just a few days ago.

He chokes himself.

"Stop. Going to die. Both of us." It states bluntly but he doesn't care. He just wants the monster inside of him die.

"Just die. Please just die." He says difficultly and he feels his hands pry off his neck. His vision becomes blurry, just like last time, and he realizes that his strength is less than satisfactory.

'A double suicide attempt. No wonder I'm so tired.' He thinks bitterly as he sees the parasite's make-shift hands grabbing ahold his own.

"Going to die. Stop." It speaks in monotone and he cries even harder now.

"What am I going to do?" He mutters to himself and his eyelids become heavier and heavier.

"Information. Where?" It tries to ask once more but by then, he is not listening and has fallen into a deep sleep where nothing can go wrong.

* * *

When he opens his eyes and directs it to the window, it is still grey and cloudy. A clock ticks and shows him it is not even close to morning.

He feels a stinging sensation below his neck and wonders why he can feel it again. Then he remembers and sleep has dissipated. He sits up fast and regrets it soon after. He is still drowsy and there is now a dullness in his head.

He swears in whispers as he hesitantly lifts his hand to his neck. He counts to three quietly before touching it and is relieved to know that there is no bulge or lump that can stretch out.

"Maybe it was all a dream." He mumbles to himself and lies back down in relief.

"Is this what humans call a lie? Or just a flaw in their perspective?" A flat yet high voice suddenly interrupts and he sits back up again, fear pooling in his gut.

He doesn't want to look towards that direction. He doesn't want to admit that he has become one of _them._ But he knows that he will have to accept it sooner or later.

He turns his head slowly, uselessly hoping that this nightmare will soon be over. His eyes spot the stretched out lump with the eye and lips and a silent scream enters.

The parasite tilts its head and examines him.

"This would be screaming, yes?" it asks and he gulps and nods.

"A silent scream, to be more precise." He stutters. "It happens when you want to scream as loud as you can but nothing comes out."

"I should read about it." It declares and whips out his phone. He looks at the object in confusion.

"Where did you get that?" He asks and it points to his pocket.

"It was inside there. I wanted information and this seemed like a good way to start." It explains and as it keeps searching more knowledge on his smart phone, he realizes that he is calmer than he expected. Was this how the student felt as well?

A silence emerges as he looks at the parasite curiously. Then,

"What's your name? I can't keep calling you _it,_ can I?" He questions.

"I do not care for names."

"It's for my own good, you idiot. I can't just keep calling you _it_ or _parasite._ "

"And why not?"

"Because _it_ is too vague and _parasite_ might mix things up."

"That is not a good reason."

His eyes furrow in slight anger. "Look, I have seen exactly two people in the same situation as me and both named their monsters. I'm asking for yours now."

There is a silence before the parasite talks. "Nodo."

He looks at it with confusion. "Huh?"

"I do not care for names. I do no understand why I should even have one. It seems you are just basing this off from other people, so that you can pretend you know everything. If it is for that reason, I'd rather you call me Nodo."

He brushes off the implied insult. "So, you just want me to call you 'throat'?"

"It makes sense, doesn't it?"

He remembers the other two parasites. The one named Migi because he had taken over the student's right hand, and Joe because it had a similar pronunciation to Jaw. And he remembers Tamura Reiko, who's name had previously been Tamiya Ryouko.

"Your kind really don't have a knack for names, do you?"

"We just do not care, but it seems that your kind, on the other hand, worships it." it says and he admits that maybe humans do.

Suddenly, the parasite goes back to its original spot and he tilts his head, puzzled. The door opens and a nurse and his precious daughter enters.

"Dad, you're awake!" She exclaims as she rushes over to him. The nurse takes her time to inject a bit more morphine into him. He sighs as he feels himself relax.

"Thank you. I didn't know I needed that until you gave it to me." He says and the nurse smiles.

"It's my job. You looked a bit anxious." She then notices something on his neck and gasps. He stiffens immediately and his daughter looks at the nurse worriedly.

"What happened. Is my father ok?" She asks and he wonders when his daughter became so mature at such a young age.

"Kuramori-san, what did you do to your neck? It's all red again!" The nurse cries out and he recalls the incident that had happened.

"Dad? Did you try to…?" His daughter trails off, fearing the worst, and he wants nothing more but make his daughter forget this ever happened.

"I- I can explain." He sputters but his daughter is already crying.

"Are you that desperate to leave us? Why?" She babbles and he holds her tight.

"No, sweetie. It's nothing like that. I promise. I would never leave you." He tries to reassure.

"Then, why? Why are you trying to kill yourself?" She yells hurtfully and before he can explain, something stops him.

What kind of father would he be if he told his 8 year old daughter that this world was diseased? She deserved to live in her perfect fantasy for a bit more. He had no right to take that away from her. He could never tell her the truth.

Has this been what the student was feeling? One of the reason why he couldn't confess?

'This world is cruel.' He thinks bitterly and just holds his precious Yumi tightly.

"I'm sorry, baby. I really am." He says painfully and she can only cry.

* * *

He sends two text messages once he gets back to his office room. As expected, there is no one there again. One to Izumi Shinichi and the other to Tamura Reiko.

He tells Tamura that he will no longer be contacting her in any way and that he is now done with sneaking around and getting himself into danger. He even sends her an empty threat that he will expose her kind if she were to come back in his life.

He hits send before Nodo can interfere.

"What are you doing?" Nodo asks in a higher pitch, as if it is in panic.

"I'm sending her a threat, what do you think I'm doing?" He sneers, not wanting to even look at the parasite next to him.

"Do you even know if she has any connections with her as well? We might be in more danger than you think. Are you mad?"

"So what if I am?" He roars as cords inside him start to break. "I'm sending her this so that she knows that I know everything now; that I can kill her and her kind any time I want."

"And you think there won't be consequences to your actions?" The parasite retorts back and his eyes widen. He shakes it off immediately after.

"She won't lay a hand on my family. Not when I have all the cards."

"Your logic is insufferable."

"Shut up. I have no time to deal with you. Honestly, I should have just cut you off the moment I saw you."

"I would have prevented it."

"You wouldn't have. You were at your weakest."

"And what made you think I was?"

"Intuition."

Nodo makes a sound similar to a scoff. "You are not Sherlock Holmes."

He stiffens at the name and his eye twitches. "Not yet. But I will be soon enough."

"I barely find that plausible. I have already passed your level of intelligence. Even I would have better luck with intuition than you."

"And what's that supposed to fucking mean?" He cracks and lunges his hand towards the parasite. It intercepts easily and hardens its skin into a blade. It goes straight to his neck and he gulps hesitantly.

"I would kill you if my life weren't connected to yours. I do my utmost best to survive and if it is dealing with a whiner like you, then so be it." Nodo says in monotone before retracting the blade. "Learn to accept the truth instead of complaining."

He looks like he wants to say something but bites it back. There's no use talking back to a monster. The least he can do is ignore it.

He then focuses on the second message and tells Izumi that he wants to meet once more and that he needs help.

"Who is he?" Nodo asks.

"He's a person I spied on for the time being. He can help me with something. Or, at least, give me ways to deal with you."

"Are you assuming that I did something wrong?"

Another cord snaps. "Yes!" He screams and throws the papers that were on the desk to the floor. He huffs in anger and straight out glares at the parasite. "You did everything wrong! It's all your fault my life is like this. I can't even tell my fucking family that I've got you on me. What would they say? If you hadn't buried into my skin, I never would have dealt with this. I was happy being a fucking coward but now you're preventing me from doing even that!"

Nodo says nothing. Then, "I do what I can to survive. That is all." He repeats and the conversation ends, just like that.

Not long after, a sound emits from his phone. He looks at it and sees that it's none other than the boy, agreeing to meet. He sends a message asking him if they can meet now and not a few seconds after does he reply with a solemn 'yes'.

He takes his coat from the wall and leaves the room, the fallen papers and chair forgotten.

"Where are we going?" Nodo asks as the only thing visible is the eye now.

"To meet the person I just talked about. He'll help me. I know he will." He says, more to himself than to the parasite, and he runs to the place where they had talked about parasites in the first place.

Once he's there, he sees that he may have come a bit too early, and crouches down, his hands on his face. Nodo is quiet as well before it senses something.

"One of my kind is approaching."

He lifts his head at the warning. "It's probably him."

Thankfully, it is. The student walked stiffly towards him while looking around.

"Migi, where's the other?" He whispers to his right hand and an eye pops out of one of the fingers.

"He is right here." The student's parasite points straight to him and the student's eyes widen.

"Not you too." He comments bleakly and sits down in front of him. He notes sadly the student's dark bags. He didn't notice before, he realizes, but then again, he was threatened against his life to notice. Now that he was in the same situation, he could see that even he, the courageous and brave, was having a difficult time.

"Yeah, me too." He replies simply and at that moment, Nodo barges out.

"Another one of us?" Migi remarks and the two parasites scrutinize each other. The student sighs as he runs a hand through his hair.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" The student asks and he laughs humorlessly.

"Isn't it obvious?" He replies as he points to the monster on his neck.

"How did this happen? I just saw you a few days ago. How does this happen in just a few days?" The students says angrily. He merely closes his eyes and sighs.

"You're telling me. Almost choked myself to death, trying to get the thing out of my system."

The student points to his neck. "Is that why you have those red marks on you?"

He nods tiredly. "Twice, actually. Once for when it entered and another for when he actually showed himself to me. My daughter was crying all morning after the nurse forced me to say it."

The student is quiet for a second. "How's your family taking it?"

He raises an eyebrow. "How is your dad taking it?" He retorts back and the student nods, understanding the implication.

"Right, you couldn't have told them."

"It's hard, though. Not being able to tell them all of this. But what can I do? Yumi's only 8 years old and Youko's having some heart problems. I could never tell them."

"My father would probably take me into dissection the moment I told him that the same thing that killed my mother was inside of me as well."

"It must have been hard." He sympathizes and the student laughs.

"Finally understand?" The student asks him and he nods.

"Unfortunately, I think I do."

The next few minutes, the two spend talking about what happened in detail, from what they were doing to how they got to this phase.

"Is there any way to get the thing off me?" He asks and the students shakes his head.

"If there was, don't you think I would have already tried it? Their kind has natural instincts to survive. They'll do whatever they can."

"Couldn't I just cut off the part that's him?"

"Same thing I asked myself when Migi showed himself. Thought I could cut off my arm and just be over with it, but he stopped me before I could. Not much you can do when one of your arms won't respond to you."

"So, you're saying he'll stop me at whatever cost?"

"I'm saying he will make your life even more miserable if you do it. Trust me, I've been through it."

He curses under his breath. "And here I thought I could do something about it."

"You have to get used to it. It's the only way."

"And you think I can? I was just a normal human being!"

"And so was I." The student says simply. At that, he stops ranting.

"Look," the student starts, "I suggest that you get used to him as fast as you can. Others of his kind will track you down and will probably try to kill you. I've had a few of those myself. Are you confident in your fighting skills?"

He splutters. "I'm a private detective!"

"And I was an average high schooler. But I've done so much. Seen blood, corpses, and killed so many, all because we needed to survive. You're going to have to deal with the same thing soon enough."

"I don't want that!"

"Well, you have no choice!" The student finally explodes. He stares at the teen with scared eyes. "You think I had one when I had to kill my own mother? When I had to leave all of my friends behind to deal with this? Suck it up! Life isn't always going to do what you want it to!"

He doesn't have anything to say to the student because he's right. When did he ever think that life was fair?

"I'm sorry." The student sighs and run his hand through his hair once more. "I guess I'm a bit stressed out."

"I apologize as well. It wasn't my place to act like a brat."

Both are silent for a few moments and they ignore the two parasites talking solemnly to each other.

"So, what are you going to do?" The student breaks the silence and asks. He talks a moment to reply.

"I don't know, really. I was just thinking on playing it low and pray to god that I don't get caught."

"You're going to have to do your best to do that. It almost never works. They're everywhere. And they can sense when one of their kind is a bit different."

"Is that how you got found out?"

"Tamiya Ryouko was my math teacher for a while." The student says pointedly and he gapes in return.

"Talk about coincidences."

"More like bad luck."

Both laugh, though tiredly, and he's happy for a second that he can finally understand what the student has been going through.

He then declares to himself that he would no live a lie with his family.

"I think I know what to do now."

the student's eyes widen. "Really? What?"

He stands up and dusts himself off. "I think it's time to tell my family that I'm not the man I used to be."

The student nods slowly, understanding. "How do you think they'll react?"

"At the moment, I'd rather not think about it. But they're my family, right? We love each other. I think that accounts for something. See you later, Izumi-kun." And he leaves.

He turns to Nodo when he's out of sight. "What did you guys talk about?"

"We exchanged information. Or rather, he gave me some helpful pointers."

"Is that so?" He hums. "Ah, just so you know, in case you weren't listening, I'd decided to show you to my wife and daughter."

"I refuse." Nodo straight out answers and he splutters.

"They're my family. They won't force us to turn us in. I promise."

"How can you be sure? From what I heard, you tried to persuade that student to turn himself in as well."

"That was before I knew what all of this was about."

"I refuse." Nodo repeats once more and he huffs.

"Your opinion is invalid. I am going to tell my family." He declares and even Nodo understands when the human is serious. The parasite says nothing but senses something is wrong when they reach the apartment.

"Youko, wake up Yumi for a second. There's something I need to tell you guys." He calls out as he takes out his keys to open the door to his flat. Nodo stops him from opening the door at the last second.

"My kind was here." It says and he hesitates.

"What?"

"I sense them running away from this place."

"What are you talking about?" He demands but dread pools his gut immensely.

"Can you not smell it?" it instead asks and he concentrates. Then, with wide eyes, he hastily opens the door and calls out of the two people he loves the most. When there is no response, he runs to his daughter's room, hoping to find her asleep in her futon.

"Yumi!" He calls out and slams open her door. He stops when his eyes detect an unmoving body that is surrounded by blood.

"Yumi?" He says more hesitantly and walks brokenly to her. His hand reaches out for the blood-stained cover and prays that everything will be alright. He takes the sheets off her and gasps in horror at the dismantled corpse that used to be his precious daughter.

"Oh, god!" He yells in terror and shakes her, hoping so dearly that this is all a prank and she will wake up as soon as she hears his voice. When no response comes out, he hugs the body fiercely, eyes filled with tears. Then, he remembers someone else.

"Oh, god, not Youko." He whispers to himself as he lays his dead daughter back to the ground. He kisses her bloody forehead without a thought and doesn't even bother to wipe it off. He, still crying, walks to the kitchen and closes his eyes in sorrow when he find the same scene, but this time, with his one and only wife.

"Youko." He chokes out and stays in his place, unable to move. He repeats his wife's name so many times that he's lost count at this point.

He then collapses to the ground, looking at his hands that are marred with his daughter's blood.

"Where is he?" He says distantly and Nodo looks at him.

"What do you mean?"

"The fucking monster who did this to my family! Where the fuck is he?" He screams. "I'll murder him! I'll fucking murder him!"

"I lost the signal. My kind is too far away for me to detect now."

"Then fucking go and find him." He growls.

"You will have to move."

"I don't have to do shit! If your kind did this, then you should at least take fucking responsibility for it!"

Nodo is silent for a moment. Then, "Is that what your kind does as well? When one murders another, does a third party of the same kind take responsibility?"

He finds that he cannot rebut back.

"Stand up." Nodo orders and he does. "Go out of the apartment and if you run, I can find him."

"I need to say goodbye to my family." He says at the last second.

Nodo disagrees immediately. "If you want to catch who did this, you will have to move now. You wasted too much time already."

"Let me say goodbye!" He roars and Nodo slaps him. He stares in shock, holding his cheek.

"They're gone. Why would you say goodbye to someone who's already dead? They won't hear what you have to say to them. They don't even know you're next to them. Whatever emotions and sympathy you have for them, they won't be able to listen to it. They're dead, do you understand? You will never see them again." Nodo states in that irritating monotone and his eye twitches subtly. He covers his face with his hands, organizing his thoughts and emotions. He feels more cords break.

"Get out of the apartment and go. They are already forgotten." Nodo finishes and one last cord breaks inside him. His hands fall to his sides and he looks at the parasite blankly. He nods slowly but his eyes are far away.

He walks away from the scene, looking at neither corpse, and closes the door as if it were just regular Tuesday. Nodo can't sense the difference and merely orders him to start running.

And he does. Straight to his office.

Whether it was by coincidence, he did not know, but as he approached the building, Nodo tells him the other parasite is close.

"It seems there are three." Nodo comments but he isn't listening. He enters the building without a second thought and trudges up the stairs. Before he goes into his room, a person calls his name.

"Ah, Kuramori-san!" It is the colleague that had called 911. He looks at him blankly and nods. The associate's eyebrows furrow.

"Are you ok? You're looking at bit pale. Is everything alright?" The colleague asks worriedly and he nods once more, slowly and blankly.

"Everything's fine. What are you still doing here?" He asks.

"Thought I'd finish some research before leaving." The colleague answers happily. He suddenly hates the man in front of him.

"You can do that tomorrow." He persuades. "Get some good night's rest."

"Ah, but I was hoping to finish it all by today." The colleague says while rubbing the back of his neck. "Want to finish it as fast as I can."

"You can finish it quicker when your brain is fresh and well rested. Go." He keeps trying and the colleague seems to be thinking about it.

"What about you, Kuramori-san? Aren't you going home, too?"

"There's something I forgot to do."

"Couldn't you do it tomorrow?"

"My work has to be done by tomorrow so I'm a bit limited."

"Is that so?" The colleague says in skepticism but nods. "Well then, I'll see you tomorrow, Kuramori-san. Good night."

"Good night."

The co-worker starts to walk away from him when he stops and turns around, scrutinizing him with a weird look in his eye.

"Are you sure you're ok?" The co-worker asks and for a moment, he is tempted to tell him what he's going to do.

"I'm fine. Just tired." He answers simply and the co-worker looks at him once more before patting him on the back and walking away.

Once he knows that no one else is inside the building, he enters his office and locks the door. He goes to the closet where he once put his coat and hat on weekdays and even weekends. He takes out a box and caresses it.

"You know, when I was still a teen and didn't know Sherlock Holmes, I used to dream of being a cowboy. Stupid, isn't it?" He voices out and Nodo looks at him strangely.

"Why are you telling me this?" The parasite asks, the pitch higher than usual. He shrugs and opens the box. It contains everything that a cowboy would need and want, from saddles to the iconic hat. He searches around, touching each object tenderly and reliving all his memories.

"I seriously thought about being a cowboy. Had everything ready and was just about to convince my mother to send me to Texas when I met Youko. She took me in for who I was, told me it was fine if I had such dreams. She was the one who showed me Sherlock Holmes, you know? She was the one who made this all happen, my becoming a private detective. Soon enough, all my possessions regarding cowboys were stored away, right here, in this box, and I started working on becoming who I am right now. Haven't opened this box in ages. Feels so nostalgic, doesn't it?" He says, more to himself than to Nodo, and the parasite just looks without answering.

He rummages a bit more, sometimes looking at a memento, and finally finds what he is looking for. Nodo's eye squints as he tries to see what he's holding in his hand and when Nodo finally does, he immediately lunges for it.

He, of course, had waited for the pounce and evades it successfully.

"Do not dare do it." Nodo warns but he just looks at the parasite with a smile, one that doesn't qualify as sane.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." He replies and starts tying the knot. Nodo tries once more to get the object out of his hands but fails.

"I will not let you kill me, too. I will do whatever I can to survive."

"You made a mistake the moment you made me your host. If I'm going down, you're going down with me." He growls before taking the stretched skin and quickly making a double knot so that Nodo's movements are more limited. The parasite struggles to get out but the knot seems impossible to untie.

"I did what I could to survive."

"Your kind should have never come here in the first place. In this world, the humans are the only predators that survive." He finishes making the knot and looks immensely satisfied. He takes his chair and puts it in the middle of the room, where a single metal bar hangs above. He stands up on the chair and carefully makes another knot, this time with the bar as a base.

When he is done, he tilts his body back and sees the masterpiece he has created. Nodo looks fearful for the first time.

"Don't do it." Nodo warns but he's obviously not listening.

"After I stopped dreaming about Texas and more on empirical facts, I married Youko and had a beautiful daughter. She was the one who found the boxes, actually. We were having a summer clean out when she stumbled upon it. She was only five when she found it. Opened it up and screamed with joy at all the weird stuff she saw. Next thing you know, the whole family's playing guns and roses. I used to pretend being the horse and the bad guy while Yumi saved the day. She would shoot her gun and I would fall dramatically, cursing her and her perfect shooting. I would cry out, 'Daddy Long Jeans is dead. Oh, the cruelty!' and then she would save the princess of the town, my one and only Youko. Yumi would always laugh when I said the name 'Daddy Long Jeans.'" He reminisces as he puts his head inside the hole. Nodo still tries to escape but fails once more.

"Then, Yumi had to turn six and start going to school. She just wouldn't let go of my leg and Youko was laughing her head off when I starting walking with her on me. Then, I remember telling her, 'now, I would have never thought the sheriff of the town would be so scared of her first day at protecting the school,' and the next thing you know, she's running to meet the teacher and telling her she'll protect her and the students from bad guys. Got a call the next day from the teacher herself, thanking me for having such a great daughter." Youko and I were so proud of her. We were always so proud."

"Would your wife and daughter be proud to see you give your life away so easily?" Nodo says just before he kicks the chair away. He turns around, ignoring the burn on his neck, and glares.

"They're dead. They won't know what I do." He quotes coldly and Nodo realizes his loss. Even a parasite that does everything he can to survive knows when he has lost the battle. Nodo closes his eye, not wanting to see the next scene.

"Daddy Long Jeans is coming to town. Better watch out." He whispers before he gets ready to kick the chair away.

"It won't work. You have already tried it twice." Nodo says softly. He merely smiles at the remark.

"Haven't you ever heard? Three times a charm."

He kicks the chair away and in minor seconds, he chokes his life away. Nodo shrivels up a few seconds after.

His body dangles in the air, swinging side to side.

The building explodes soon after.

* * *

 _Furthermore, in Kuramori Shioru's office, which handled investigations, burned down the same night in what is currently believed to have been arson. That same hour, Kuramori's family had been massacred in their home and autopsy has revealed that the causes of their death was mostly likely damage from blades. The police had intended to question Kuramori-san on what happened and what might have caused such an occurrence when firefighters found his body in the wreckage. Causes for his death appears to be suicide by hanging, though the body had severe burns and injuries as well._

 _Most interesting to note was his neck that seemed to be abnormal in that part of the skin was stretched out and tied into a knot. While the body is still intact, that one portion has shriveled up and unrecognizable._

 _Aikawa Todou, co-worker and colleague of Kuramori, expresses his sorrow._

" _We had brief talk before this all happened. He told me that I needed a good night's rest and I firgured, why not? But I knew something was wrong. He wasn't acting like himself and I knew I shouldn't have left him alone. I just knew it!"_

 _Police are doing their best to find the connection between the two cases but there are currently no leads._

* * *

"Shinichi."

"Yes?"

"What are we doing now?"

There is a silence before he answers. "We keep moving. What else?" He stands up with a sigh and quietly goes out of the restaurant, footsteps fading away and another bitter memory engraving in his mind.

* * *

 **So, how was it overall? Good, bad, meh? Tell me what you think in the reviews!**

 **I guess I'm not that original in making new characters because anyone can obviously tell that I carved Nodo out of Migi. Fun fact: Nodo is the actual word for neck. Like I said, I'm not original lel**

 **Thank you again _PrawnNetwork_ for giving me this opportunity and really hope this satisfied you :) If any of you want to suggest me anything, don't be afraid to ask and just PM me! I'll do my best to write :)**

 **I did actually write another Parasyte story a while ago but never had the chance to upload it here. It's not my usual style of writing since I mostly focus on angst, but the one I wrote is actually the opposite. I believe you can call it comedy in some way because it's mostly Migi trying to give Shinichi sex advice when Murano invites him.**

 **I don't particularly mind if I upload it so tell me in the reviews if I should.**

 **That's it for me today and I'll revise by tomorrow!**

 **Peace,**

 **FlyAndDontLookBack**


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